Wine with Leslie: Gold Star selections from your local wine merchants
Pic: iStock
This week I want to write in praise of the local.
The supermarkets have made it too easy for us, and given our busy lives it is just too convenient to fill up the trolley in one supermarket visit. But if we do this we are missing out on so much, and our lives are poorer.
Germany is the home of Riesling and it is not an easy grape to grow thanks to its long ripening season. This is bone dry (‘trocken’) and should help convert you — apple and citrus aromas, tangy and dry with softer apple and tropical fruit touches on the finish. The full Baer range is worth exploring.
This was a surprise, I would not have expected a six-year-old Chilean Sémillon would have held up so well but this is excellent. Soft pear and baked lemon aromas with a touch of floral. Textured and creamy on the palate with a zing of lemon zest on the finish.
I’ve recommended the Rioja Vega Crianza (€15) before but not this inexpensive semi-crianza, which is younger and brighter with just a few months oak age. Juicy, ripe and textured with some red fruits hitting the palate first but darker fruits dominating the mid-palate and finish with some spice notes coming through. Delicious and great value.
I haven’t seen Portia for a good while so I’m pleased to see it make a comeback by winning Red Wine of the Year. This may not be available for a week or two so be patient. Ripe dark fruit aromas that follow onto the palate, gorgeous textures and weight, complex, layered and vibrant.
If you are struggling to forgive New Zealand for breaking our hearts last weekend this might help. A step up from and a contrast to all those grassy and rather overblown New Zealand Sauvignons, this has passionfruit and tropical aromas, brisk and crisp on the palate with herbal touches and balance.
Piper Heidsieck has had a noticeable jump in quality in the last decade and has won the Champagne Gold Star Award before. I tasted it again over the weekend and I can see why. Lemon zest and baked croissant aromas, softly textured and rich on the palate with almonds and citrus on the finish.
Kettle-soured Berliner Weisse beer with added blackberry and raspberry fruits - “for end of summer vibes!” according to Whiplash. A ‘kettle sour’ is created by adding lactobacillus directly into the kettle to sour the wort prior to fermentation and hopping etc. and combined with fruit flavours can make a deliciously refreshing beer.
The hop used is Bramling Cross, an American-style aroma hop that works well with fruit beers. This pours a cloudy dark raspberry colour with distinctly fruity aromas, especially raspberry. Fruity, crisp and bone dry on the palate with lingering bitter raspberry flavours. I drank this with some nutty rich Coolattin cheddar while sitting in the garden and it worked surprisingly well.
